Epiphany!

I had the biggest epiphany for my novel yesterday! I'm not even sure how the thought came to me. One of those random strings of thought that start with one simple daily bucket list item that sent me on a trek around my imagination and landed in the brilliant idea for a total trilogy! Whew! It was definitely an interesting process of thought. I'm not completely sure of all the details yet, but I definitely have a good premise brewing.

I don't get those often these days. I'm usually inundated with schooling the boys, worrying about bills, trying to figure out dinner, and trying to keep sane. All while failing to attempting to keep up with my domestic goddess duties.

Anyway... I'm excited about this idea! It's going to be quite an undertaking, but I am finally motivated in my writing again!

My CampNaNo Writing Project

Well, my LitRPG project has been coming along well, although I'm still in the very beginning stages of the story. After talking with my cabin mates, I realize that I need to focus on sketching out the world map and focus on figuring out the "main" quest line of the main character's story.

This is not the project that I had planned on working on this July. I actually have a much larger project that I was supposed to start working on, but I've had a hard time getting into the mood for that one at the current moment. It's probably because I'm reading a LitRPG story right now on my Kindle, so I'm in the mood for that sort of story.

I have so much to do.... My mind is racing with all of the projects that I'm needing to work on.

I need to find a good (and easy) crochet pattern for a shawl to teach the Young Women at church how to crochet. I also need to work on my own Personal Progress as well. The original story project that I was supposed to work on (we'll call it "Project X") that I couldn't get in the mood to work on is actually a part of my Personal Progress. One of my Value Projects that I had chosen to do. *sigh* Maybe I should switch over to that project for this month and finish the LitRPG story for November....

Or maybe I should just continue the LitRPG story for now, since that's what I'm currently motivated for and work on Project X in November. That would give me more time to do the research for Project X that I actually need. Plus, it's a more important project (in my opinion) so additional time would benefit me to get it done right.

Or maybe I need to quit putting it off and just switch back to Project X and get it finished like I had planned.

I really hate when I'm indecisive like this.

I think what I really need is a good night's sleep. My husband was very sick (we think it's the flu) Friday night and I was very worried. So much that I actually stayed awake all night to take care of him, getting him water, a cold compress, etc. (You have to realize, he never gets sick, but when he does, it's a doozy!) I finally got to sleep at 5am Saturday morning, and now I'm trying to play catch up with sleep. It's a losing battle. He's still sick, but he's better than he was, thank goodness! My anxiety level was through the roof!

So, I'm going to pray about which project to work on and get some much needed sleep. Good night everyone!

CampNaNoWriMo

So, CampNaNo has begun! It's actually been underway since July 1st. I just didn't post until now about it. I'm participating yet again, but I'm having major issues trying to decide on a project. I wanted to start something totally new and actually had quite a few plot bunnies running around that I thought I'd try out. I figured if I started a couple of them, one of them would peak my interest more than the others and rise to the top, but alas, no. They're all still evenly un-motivating.

I have tons of unfinished projects that are all demanding my attention as well. But I'm not sure if I'm up for re-reading any of them (some are quite lengthy) to get myself re familiarized with it enough to pick up where I left off.

Then, there's this one that I've been meaning to start over... from complete scratch... because the first draft went totally wonky on me and took off in a really weird direction that I wasn't intending. So, I could re-start that one.... But then there's this other one that I've been trying to write for sometime that keeps nagging at me. It's a writing project that I've promised myself that I would write and finish, but it's got a lot of research that still needs done before I can really write it. And honestly, I'm just not in the mood for that.

*sigh*

So, here I am, writing a blog post and postponing my writing that I'm supposed to be doing right now. Truth be told, I really should be cooking dinner for the family right now too, but I'm not in the mood for that either!

What I really want to do is just sit and play a video game and get lost in it.

That brings me back to my LitRPG story that I started earlier this year. Maybe I'll work on it some more. Since I want to write and I want to play a video game, what better thing to do than write my LitRPG story?!

To be continued..................

Back from the abyss...

Wow, has it been a LONG time since I wrote a blog post on here! I do apologize to anyone who might have been watching my blog. Life has certainly gotten in the way. I've been so ridiculously busy with homeschooling and life in general, that I've totally let my blog fall through the cracks in my To-Do's.  Truth be told, I had some health issues as well and just didn't have the energy nor the motivation to keep it up. Although (almost) 2 years is quite a long time to let something go.

Anyway, I miss keeping my blog going and will be going through the whole thing, making sure that links work, etc. But it will take some time, I'm sure. My life is still just as busy, but I'm working on my time management. If you happen to come across anything that doesn't work or doesn't seem right, please let me know. Thank you.  I appreciate you! ❤

Have you ever left something go for way too long and then tried to pick it back up? Were you successful? I'd love to hear your story in the comments!

Happy Halloween

Wow, it's Halloween already?!  Seriously, where has the time gone?

I got a writing prompt in my email regarding a "memorable Halloween costume" and I thought it would be fun to share one of my favorites!

My husband dressed as the Wolverine and I was a (chunky) Phoenix... Well, my husband really looked the part, but I was just... well, I had fun anyway!  (please excuse the messy kitchen!)

As you can see, my hubby nailed it with his hair and the way he shaved his face!  The "Claws" are just toys, but they actually make metallic clanging sounds when you swing your hands to make the claws come out.  It was lots of fun.  Especially since this was before we were married, pregnant, etc... just the two of us and his teenage son (who's now a 21 year old young man!)

We both love Halloween and enjoy taking our two youngest trick or treating.

It was a very memorable Halloween for us.  Lots of fun!

Do you have any memorable Halloweens that really stand out?  Feel free to share!  I'd love to hear about them!

The Pursuit of Positive Posts

Well, I finally did it.  I finally lost a (Facebook and real life) friend due to posting an "offensive" meme.  It was bound to happen.  Honestly, I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner.

I posted a meme comparing a quote from Hitler to a quote from Hilary Clinton.  I'm sure most of you have seen it, but if you haven't, I apologize, but I'm not going to repost it again.  It's very negative and apparently very offensive to at least one person that I know.

I think the saddest part is the fact that he thinks his friendship didn't mean much to me just because we haven't seen each other in about 20 years.  What he fails to realize is that it did mean a lot.  He was one of the first people I met at college and I always admired him for many different reasons.

While I didn't realize that the meme that I shared would be that disastrous to any friendships that I have, it was a very negative post and that leads me to today's blog post.

While I think the whole thing got totally blown out of proportion and I think he took extremely drastic measures to not only unfriend me, but he also blocked me completely.  On top of that, he also made a post on his Facebook page specifically naming me (which most people have the courtesy to only give first names or no names at all, such as I'm doing, but I suppose he feels the need to do so) and showing a screenprint of part of the conversation.  Although at first, it upset me, upon further reflection, I realized that the whole event has made me think a lot about myself and my actions.  I would like to publicly apologize for any offense that I may have made against him, I certainly didn't share the meme with that goal in mind.  And I would like to thank him.  Without his drastic measures, I would not have taken stock in myself.

As I said, this was bound to happen... losing a friend, that is... considering that I'm a Christian, that, in and of itself is offensive to many people.  And I'm a Mormon (a member of The church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints... no, not the people on tv with the multiple wives.  Those people are not members of our church.) and being Mormon offends a whole bunch of other people.  I lost a lot of friends when I joined the church, but that's a whole other story.

But, as I said, this whole issue has made me really look at myself and the kind of person I want to be.  At first, I was upset that he posted (after blocking me and thinking that I wouldn't find out) his disgruntled response and posting my full name.  But then, I realized that I'd done the same thing to Hilary.  While she's a politician and is probably used to such demeaning memes and comments, that doesn't mean it was right for me to do.

I'm no politician, but I'm also used to derogatory and nasty statements, having received more than my fair share as a kid, but they hurt just as much now as they did when I was younger.  So, I also would like to apologize to Hilary.  No, I don't think she should be president and no I don't particularly like her nor her politics, but I certainly don't want to hurt her or anyone else for that matter.  Do I think she actually saw my post?  Ppffftthhh, no, of course not, but I don't need to keep the negativity going.  And if I'm a Christian, then why would it be ok for me to post such a nasty meme?  It's not.

Does that mean that I won't hurt anyone again?  No, I'm sure I'll do something at some point to offend someone again.  Like I said, I'm a Christian and a Mormon, so right off the bat, I'm offensive to thousands and thousands of people just for breathing.

But I have come to realize that I need to be more positive and stay away from as much negativity as I can. So I have decided to make a #PursuitOfPositivePosts Challenge.  For the next 30 days, I'm going to try to post, share, and make only positive posts on any and all social media that I get on.

So, it begins.... Positive Posts!  Who's with me?  Post a comment below and let me know if you're up for the challenge to bring positive posts to the world and have a better outlook on life.

Remember the hashtag!

#PursuitOfPositivePosts

The Alternative 52 Week Money Saving Challenge for 2015

So, I'm sure that most of you have seen the 52 Week Money Saving Challenges out there on the internet.  I've decided to use an alternative style.  I had come across this idea a few years ago, but for the life of me, I can't find it again, so I drew it up myself for this post.  It basically alternates from the low end of the savings to the high end and back again.  So on the first week (I'm starting on Jan 3rd) you put aside $1, then on the second week you put aside $52, on the third week, $2, on the fourth week, $51 and so on.  You get the idea.  Here's a visual for you.

Download Here

(This is my first time making a downloadable link, so please let me know if you're unable to download.  Thanks!)

I like having the amounts staggered rather than having all the large amounts together.  If we have an unexpected bill or something comes up, then it won't be so hard to save $52 one week and $2 the next, but saving $52 then $51 the next week is a little harder to do.  This alternating between the larger and smaller amounts just makes things a little easier.  Saving the larger amounts all at one time (either at the beginning or the end of the year) is tough when you're living paycheck to paycheck.  Doing it that way would be $202 in one month.  I don't know about you, but that's a little bit much when I have to buy groceries!

Also, having the bigger amounts toward the beginning of the year is easier (in my opinion) than having them at the end when Christmas is coming.  To me, it's harder to save around the holidays.  By then, I'm wishing I'd have been saving all year and with the holidays, my hubby gets time off, so the pay's not as big (not getting overtime makes a big difference) so it's a little harder on the wallet.

I think I'm going to start something with my 4 year old as well.  We're just starting to learn about money, so this might help him.

Download the Children's version Here

Of course he doesn't have a "job" but he's going to start "earning" this money by doing his chores.  We've been a little slack in the chore department.  He has them and does them, but we haven't been as consistent as we had planned to be.  Don't judge.  It's the least of my worries right now.  But hey, New Year, New Plans! Part of the New Year's Resolutions list.  (We might get the 2 year old in on it too, but that would be more for fun than teaching at this point.  He is so cute when he giggles and claps his hands at the "plunking" the money makes in his see-through bank that he got for Christmas!)

I suppose one of the biggest thing on my list (every year) is to be more organized and this money saving plan falls right into place with that particular resolution.  There are many subcategories to that resolution, but that's a whole other post!

So, who's with me on the challenge?  If you don't like my take on it, you don't have to use my particular schedule... or you can make your own.  Just Google "52 Week Money Saving Challenge" and you'll instantly become overwhelmed with spreadsheets of all kinds, shapes, colors, etc.

I'd love to know what you think of my plan(s) above.  Do you like it?  Hate it?  Want to give it a try?  What do you think of the children's version?  Let me know in the comments below.  Thanks and Happy New Year!